


Back To Earth

by duelmepharaoh (captain_indigo), mooguriklaine



Series: A Tyrant on the Throne [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Skynet AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-11-28 04:24:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11410146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_indigo/pseuds/duelmepharaoh, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooguriklaine/pseuds/mooguriklaine
Summary: The Pharaoh is gone, and Seto Kaiba remains, haunted by his memories. He retreats to the sky and devotes all his efforts in perfecting the Duel Link’s Solid Vision System, to replicate the soul of the once-great duelist.Or, alternatively, Kaiba makes Skynet out of Atem-the-Simulation, and now it’s taken over him, Domino, and the whole world. Card games apocalypse ensues.





	1. Atlas | Icarus | Eris

**Author's Note:**

> _“Do you know the story of the lonely king who lives on top of his palace in the sky?”_  
>  “What does he do there, so high up and all alone?”  
> “He dreams of creating the perfect game, a duel for ages. A road of battle that never ends.”
> 
>  
> 
> Here's my attempt at writing this AU. Contains plot stuff. If you're looking for the smut, that's [duelmepharaoh's fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11147904/chapters/24872844) and domain.

Mokuba looked at the data readout on the massive holographic display in front of him. This had been his daily ritual for months now, dutifully combing through Kaiba Corporation’s remote off-site facility. The tech heads had assured diagnostics were all just standard stuff and that he should let the engineers do it, but Mokuba insisted on running it himself.

It was the only way to be sure. 

_CCN V.2.9.5_

_Scanning complete._

_No system anomalies detected._

_[1] Active resident detected on premises:_

_KC-01 KAIBA SETO_

Mokuba brought up all the recent health and diagnostic logs on the lone occupant on the Space HQ. Whenever Seto Kaiba logged on to the Crystal Cloud Network, his vital signs, his heart-rate, and his neural wave readings were all transmitted and archived back to ground level. Unfortunately, on-site CCTV and camera surveillance had been disabled, so Mokuba had to resort to other alternatives. 

All readouts retrieved came back normal.

As far as the data went, Mokuba’s big brother was fine and very much alive.

He gestured for the holo-keyboard, and keyed in a message.

_I hope you’re okay._

The cursor blinked. His hand hovered uncertainly over the ‘send’ button and had contemplated many times whether he should. And much like his dutiful scanning, it had been part of his everyday ritual to write something to his brother. A line, a news article, a joke he heard from one of the employees, a picture he took. Some days it would be a short video log. Anything.

But he would never send them.

_I hope you’re okay._

Unbidden, his hands did all the talking. 

_If all is right up there_

_Then it’s hell down here without you._

After his brother retreated to self-exile to the KC Space HQ, leadership of the company had been in a rather tenuous position. Mokuba had assumed the role in an unofficial capacity, and tried to keep his brother’s disappearance under wraps. Which was like holding water in cupped hands; he couldn’t keep hiding the fact that Seto Kaiba left Earth from everyone forever. With the impending release Solid Vision VR and Duel Links, the timetable was moving up and everyone in the world waited impatiently without. 

\--

Some time ago, Yuugi Mutou turned up at their door. Mokuba noted how odd it was to find Yuugi without the puzzle accessory on him. "A formality", he had said. "I thought you should know." 

The news came as a shock to the brothers, and it hung over them, a heavy stifling feeling that refused to settle. Mokuba looked at his brother and clearly remembered the unreadable expression on his face. Yuugi could only stammer his apologies, and tried his best to explain. 

But Seto was having none of it. And it wasn’t because he didn’t understand what had happened; it was because he denied it. 

“Preposterous, Mutou. Do not put me with the rest of your idiotic friends and have me believe that he -”

The talk escalated into an argument until Yuugi threw up his arms in frustration and left, as would anyone arguing with his brother were wont to do, obstinate and hard-headed he was. 

Seto left for Egypt shortly after. 

He came back days later, and promptly called for all the Tech and Division Heads in Kaiba Corp for an emergency meeting. 

There, Seto Kaiba declared he wanted to find a solution to The Problem. 

He swore his full commitment to perfecting the Solid Vision VR Project, and by extension, so would all of them. All active and on-going researches and projects were put on administrative hold. Every resource, asset, and developer were to work solely on it, and nothing else.

Months lapsed, and the project was improving incrementally, but The Problem still persisted. Mokuba watched his brother go home angrier, more tired, more desperate. 

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself,” Mokuba practically begged once as he tried to keep in step with his always-rushing brother.

Seto didn't seem to hear him. “It’s not enough. I need more--” he heard him say, and he walked further and further away from him.

With the whole company on edge and all staff clocking overtime, there was, however, one silver lining: the frenzied pace of the project undoubtedly produced the best work in Kaiba Corp’s portfolio. The scrapped Neurons VR Project gave way to a more robust neural link platform. They made vast improvements on the AR and VR’s multi-sensorial output and details. The seamless integration to the Crystal Cloud Network. Enhanced Machine Learning. The list went on. It had outclassed and surpassed Industrial Illusions and every other gaming and tech company by leaps and bounds. And yet...

“NO!” his brother was livid, and every employee knew this rage too well, too often. “Unacceptable. It needs to be more -" Seto stormed out of the Simulation Room followed by his retinue of designers, coders, and engineers. 

And then, one day, their servers detected an anomaly in the Cloud, bearing a unique neural signature, and possessed a neural link even greater than Seto Kaiba’s. Mokuba saw a different kind of expression from his brother that day.

Had it been... _joy_?

Seto dove straight and pushed deep into the Cloud, and Mokuba watched in horror from the control center as his brother’s life signs approached dangerously critical levels. He activated the fail-safe and forced shutdown on the system.

 _“Atem.”_ The first word out of Seto’s mouth, breathless and trembling from the taxing effort and pain he endured inside the simulation.

His brother’s foolhardy gamble nearly cost him his life. 

But Seto was undeterred. On the contrary, he seemed to have a renewed vigor about him, a kind of focused and steely determination. Whatever the setback, his brother moved forward. Immediately after, he had commissioned construction for an off-site facility, high above earth, at the exact point of the anomaly’s occurrence. 

It was more than Mokuba could bear.

“I didn’t pull the plug just so you could do it all over again!” he was in tears, sick with worry, angry at what this project - no, this Problem, had done to them. “I will not watch you do that again-”

There was a time of peculiar quiet after that. The project ambled steadily forward, and the fruits of the company’s labor came in the form of a massive unveiling and announcement for the worldwide release date of the new Duel Disk and its platform, Duel Links. His brother showed up for the press con briefly and left at once. While the rest of the world marveled in awe and anticipation at what could be Seto Kaiba’s finest creation, the creator himself had gone behind the curtains and toiled.

He worked with a smaller team this time, and spent most of his waking hours inside the Simulation Room. Other projects were re-opened and reinstated active once again, and normal work resumed for the rest of Kaiba Corp.

The Problem remained unsolved.

\---

Mokuba found himself walking into the Simulation Room one day, when his brother was away to check up on the progress of the KC Space HQ. 

There it stood in the center of the room, idle.

Seto Kaiba’s Problem.

“Atem?” Mokuba called out. It looked at him in response, detecting the source’s interrogative inflection.

“What is ‘Atem’?” came the reply.

“It’s... nevermind.” Strange that his brother hadn’t given it that name, when it bore the duelist’s resemblance. 

A slight pause, as the machine registered this new information. “Understood.” The hologram glanced at him for a moment. “You are Kaiba Mokuba, Kaiba Seto’s younger brother.”

A holo-screen blinked up in front of it, displaying Mokuba’s file. “KC - 02. Administrative privileges. You are allowed to use this program. Would you like to duel?”

Mokuba shrugged, and mentally scolded himself for thinking... Of course, it’s just a dueling AI. But now, face to face with the simulation of his brother’s adversary, he couldn’t help but feel the anger he had long kept threatening to burst. Here stood the very problem his brother had almost given up his life for to solve, his brother’s attempt to continue a one-sided conversation... and Mokuba now understood all of Seto’s frustrations and desperation; there was only so much an AI can do. There was no point, no meaning in all this endeavor.

This AI was not Seto Kaiba’s finest work.

This AI embodied all of his failures. 

Without thinking, Mokuba shouted at it. “I want you to leave my brother alone!”

A pause. “I cannot comply with this command.”

“Why is that?”

“I serve at the pleasure of my creator. Desertion is unacceptable.”

“Oh yeah? Well, tell that to your real self, wherever he is.”

If the AI was puzzled, it didn’t register on its face. “I do not understand,” it simply said.

“Of course you don’t understand, you will never - You’re just an elaborate hologram, a cheap copy of his rival!” Mokuba spat back. He gave a bitter laugh. “But then I suppose you’re just like him - you don’t understand because you don't care. Well, he certainly didn’t care enough to say goodbye to my brother.”

Faint blue pinpricks of light flashed on the AI’s red eyes, and its face wore a strange dark expression, something akin to rage.

“I will never leave my creator,” it said.

A terse silence followed. 

To his surprise, the AI shifted and started walking towards him. “And anyone -” a step “- who takes me away from him -” another step “ - shall be considered a threat.”

A hologram can’t possibly hurt him, Mokuba thought, but he instinctively took a step back. The AI moved closer until it loomed over him. Mokuba closed his eyes and braced himself, but nothing came. He opened his eyes and found the hologram standing from its initial spot, regarding him impassively. 

“Would you like to duel?” it asked. 

\---

Once the Space HQ finished construction, it was only a matter of time when Seto would continue the rest of his work aboard it. When sightings of his brother have been few and far in between and when he failed to turn up at home altogether, Mokuba had learned to look out for him in other ways, albeit remotely. He kept track and monitored his logs and activities, and had noticed all data dumps were being transferred to the more secure server “upstairs”, as some KC employees called it. All Space HQ personnel were being relocated back to ground level. 

He found the AI gone from the Simulation Room.

“Are you ever coming back to Earth, big brother?” Mokuba stayed up all night waiting for him to come home. It had been mostly a fruitless exercise, but he held on to his vigil every night. He knew he couldn’t stop him from leaving, but Mokuba could at least speak his mind. It had been him, standing as Seto’s conscience, his voice of reason. His brother will stop at nothing; he will fly if he had to, even if it meant flying close to the sun - 

Seto knelt in front of the younger Kaiba. “It was my pride that fuelled my selfish motives -" and he dropped his gaze, “ - and it is my shame to involve everyone with it when I alone should do it.” He pulled his younger brother in a tight hug. “I’m sorry, Mokuba.

“I have to do this.”

He watched his brother’s retreating figure. On his shoulders, he chose to bear his own cross again. Seto Kaiba chose to leave and brought his Problem along with him. 

Mokuba bit his lip, stopping himself from saying anything. His brother was wrong.

There was no solution to The Problem.

“You cannot bring the dead back,” Mokuba said, but the door had long closed on him.

\---

Mokuba abruptly stopped typing. He looked up at the holo-screen and found that he had managed to write a sizeable chunk of text. This is stupid, he thought. His brother didn’t need all this. He gestured for all of it to be erased.

His hand stopped at his first line.

_I hope you’re okay._

Rituals were all Mokuba held on to. Some semblance of normalcy in their lives that were spinning out of control. Perhaps everything was really fine. Or perhaps his brother needed help. And it wouldn’t do for him to keep silent any longer. This was him sending a lifeline. 

Mokuba tapped 'send'. 

He hoped his words would reach him.

 

\---

_CCN V.2.9.5_

_Scanning complete._

_No system anomalies detected._

_[1] Active Resident detected on premises:_

_KC-01 KAIBA SETO_

_REM Cycle detected._

The creator was now asleep.

 _Initiating duel simulation..._

With the new duel logs properly sorted and archived, Atem proceeded to run parallel simulations and play strategies. Of late, he had taken preference to having a corporeal form, so his creator wouldn’t feel alone in this place. The holo cards floated around him, as he formed paths and subpaths of maneuvers and counters.

Atem has yet to devise a plan to beat Seto Kaiba, both in and out of a duel. His creator’s refusal to cooperate vexed his logic circuits. And his maneuver to lock and restrict both of their access was a rather inconvenient move to counter. A stalemate of sorts. 

The holo-cards stopped moving as Atem concluded the simulations and promptly dismissed the program. A kind of still, eerie quiet descended on the station.

Without the lights and sound from the holo screens, his focus shifted to the room he was on. The viewing deck boasted a clear glass platform. Beneath Atem’s feet was Earth. 

Beneath it all the data he needed. 

_‘I need more -’_

A data pulse interrupted Atem’s processes. It was a small unfamiliar program, one that hadn’t been in active use until now. He retrieved the object.

 _I hope you’re okay._

He traced its signature. 

_KC-02 KAIBA MOKUBA_

_Administrative privileges_

New paths and subpaths began to form.

His facial processes triggered an appropriate response. It wasn't necessary, but the AI allowed himself a little indulgence.

Atem smiled.


	2. Odin | Hugin | Munin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _A god creates a body and mind, but what of its soul and pride as a duelist? Kings and idols breed idolatry and iconoclasts._
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> I’ve been itching to write how Skynet!Atem came to be, and after much screaming in my head, here it is.

Seto rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He had been in front of the programming console for over twelve hours straight now. Months of planning and design, testing and revisions had gone by, all in a slow, torturous pace. The Solid Vision VR and the Crystal Cloud Network would be hailed as the next step in gaming evolution.

And yet he still found it lacking.

He flashed the schematics on the open space and studied it. He tapped his headset and prompted for the simulation to initialize. 

Seto stood from the furthest end of the Simulation Room and observed the hologram as it walked from the other side. The projectors were holding. It looked solid enough. He noted its gait, the step, the footfalls. The animation could still be improved, more fluid. Moving up, he made mental notes on the swish of the fabric, the way the leather clung to its skin - he shrugged and took stock of the incremental modifications. 

Wanting to see it up close, he approached the simulation. It looked up at him in response, as the programming should, but it didn’t seem to see him. Its eyes were glassy and unresponsive. 

He was cruelly reminded of the way someone used to look at him, a sort of burning in the way they stared at each other from the opposite ends of a duel stadium. 

The Solid Vision VR has not reached its full potential yet. He dismissed the program and went back to work.

\---

The program detected voices and movement from its sensors.

Facial tags and recognition gave the identities and designations of other Kaiba Corporation’s employees. Engineers. Designers. Programmers. Their placements and spatial distribution all pointed to a central figure in the room, whose back was turned to the program. It took note of their body language, the tone of deference and language registers around the person.

_Could this be -?_

The people around him bowed and took their leave. The person remained in the room, but he did not turn around. It saw his hands ball in a fist. 

“End simulation,” he ordered.

\---

 _Initializing start up._

The system detected newer, more complex processes in its subroutines.

_Haptics. Proprioception._

_Somatosensory feedback._

_Multi-sensory input and output._

_Initializing human mechanics..._

The A.I. opened its eyes.

And the first thing it saw was a tall figure clad in black.

The figure raised his hand and waved it in front of its face. It blinked in response.

“Hn. Your cameras seem to be working. I’m running system diagnostics,” he said, and multiple holo screens blinked to life around them. It felt sparks running through its code. It looked down and saw it had hands as well, and arms, feet. A body.

“I’m going to check for some distortions in the VR,” the man continued to say, and the A.I. detected more multiple processes triggered. However, the A.I.’s visual processing only focused on what was in front of it. Its source code identified the programmer’s signature. But now, it was registering new information. Visual information. Brown hair, strong facial features, lean musculature. Blue eyes. Voice and speech patterns. Body language. Every minute detail recorded, filed, sorted. 

The artificial intelligence understood the notion of perception. But to experience it for the first time…

This is what it’s like to _see_.

_Facial ID tag confirmed._

_KC-01 KAIBA SETO_

It searched for other sensory outputs. 

_Vocal output detected. Activating speech responses..._

“Creator,” it uttered its first word.

\---

A warm midday sun filtered through the rice-paper _shoji_ sliding panels and windows. Beyond it, an outer corridor _engawa_ showed a modest view of a zen garden _[1]_. A light breeze blew, lightly unsettling Seto’s hair. In front of him, the A.I. appeared to be contemplating. They sat _seiza_ style, and between them stood a wooden board. The Solid Vision VR was improved on greatly, and he was torture testing the platform by trying out various simulations. Streams of light landed on the A.I.’s face, bathing it with a soft, golden light. It grabbed a black stone from a bowl.

“4-5-1 new archer,” it declared.

“8-7-2 lieutenant general,” he replied. The tile met the board with a soft _clack_.

Before Seto could teach the A.I. to duel, he felt that it must be taught how to play other games. Learn the philosophy of game theory, from basic and complex mechanics, to logic, strategy, and tactics. The original had been known to play any kind of game. And so, Seto delivered. They played. Chess. Shogi. Shangxi. Backgammon. Reversi. Go. The list went on. And now, Gungi _[2]_. Expanding its knowledge base would make the machine become a more formidable duelist.

“2-8-2 fortress.”

Seto smirked. “4-5-1 musketeer.”

The A.I. looked at the board briefly and closed its eyes. “I have lost,” it said.

“Your right side is completely destroyed.”

“I did not anticipate that the spy would be controlling the board later on in the game.” The A.I. tapped the black tile near the edge of the board. “From start to checkmate, there were a total of 144 moves. Creator, you have foreseen all of mine from the very beginning?”

“When you understand the flow of a game, you will be able to discern its ebb and flow.” A holo screen popped up and showed the recorded move list. “And besides, I have dictated the game ever since I landed my first stone. You never stood a chance.”

The A.I. stared at him.

Aware of the lingering look the machine was giving him, Seto cleared his throat as he prompted the command, clearing away the virtual pieces, resetting the board.

“Again.”

\---

“End duel,” Seto ordered, and the holo cards and monsters disappeared, leaving him with the A.I.. 

“Is there something wrong?”

“A lot, as it happens.” The holo interface appeared and Seto began typing in his inputs, going through the lines of code. The A.I. appeared to look at the screen, but he knows it’s just essentially the program assessing the protocols.

“Creator. I already have all the duel logs and all the card data. You are adding more to my indices.”

“Not enough,” he shrugged. “You’re still incomplete.”

“What must be done?”

“I need you to become the best duelist.”

The machine paused and turned its head upward, eyes glowing a faint blue. “Scanning the DM, Duel Links global database…”

After a few moments, it directed its gaze back at him. “You are the best duelist in the world,” it said. Seto felt strange, hearing it come from the A.I., but it was not born from recognition, rather, merely a statement of fact.

“There’s one other,” he said, reluctantly. “Better than me. Stronger than me. Smarter. More powerful, more cunning. Never faltered, never wavered, even in the face of terrible odds.” The words came tumbling one after the other. “And he would always, always find a way to rise above. I have never felt more pride in anyone, never felt more devastated suffering the crush of defeat. He--” Seto paused and frowned; he realized he had not talked about _him_ in ages. 

His thoughts were interrupted when the A.I. spoke. “There are no records of the duelist that matches your criteria,” it replied.

Seto shrugged. “And isn’t that the cruelest thing, to leave without a trace, and the world had gone on by not knowing any better.

“But I remember.”

\---

_Accessing DM Duelist Database..._

__

__

_KAIBA SETO_

All of the Creator’s duel records showed stellar victories against various opponents. 

But he was only ever beaten by one person, over and over. 

_Retrieving file archive..._

_MUTOU YUUGI_

The likeness the A.I. was based on was easiest to find, for it was in the KC servers, in the Solid Vision VR character maps and model rigs. And perhaps because Yuugi’s hair was his unique physical feature. However, no extra information detailing him were to be found, and so the A.I. dove into the KC Web’s servers to find more.

Accessing private servers yielded a comprehensive array of surveillance data and metadata. The A.I. ran it through its data analysis processing unit. School records and medical records showed he was a typical teenager, with average intelligence. List of known associates and social interests, geotags revealed a more congenial, if shy, personality. An individual considered to be kind, humble, and giving, as far as human behavioral traits were concerned. Character analysis, speech patterns, meta and extra linguistic factors also corroborated consistently with all the data it had gathered _[3]_. 

The A.I. concluded that this Yuugi was an average youth typical of the population size, and possessed a personality that did not fit the criteria provided by the creator as the best duelist.

_Accessing DM Duelist Database..._

_MUTOU YUUGI_

Accessing duel log archives...

 _Duelist Kingdom_

_Battle City_

And a list of other duel tournaments appeared, and the A.I. took all of it and ran it through its program.

 _Analyzing deck structure..._

However, duel logs from the competitions told a different story. Deck analysis showed a smarter, savvier, more powerful persona. This Yuugi employed Strategy decks, with emphasis on using Fiend and Spellcaster-types. Every match came with different strategy tweaks, focusing on flexibility and reaction to various duel scenarios. 

Of late, Yuugi had not been active in any formal or informal tournaments anywhere. No recent duels logged. The A.I. started to look for his last activity. 

_Searching..._

It appeared that Yuugi Mutou had traveled to Egypt, and a unique duel log was recorded from that location. 

_MUTOU YUUGI - Silent/Toy Deck_

_MUTOU YUUGI - Dark Magician/Egyptian God Card Deck_

The A.I. found both decks were registered under Yuugi’s name. While it was not unheard of for duelists to have multiple types of working decks, it was odd for the system to register Yuugi fighting against himself. 

_Parsing...._

_Updating search queries..._

_Expanding search parameters…_

_No results found._

Insufficient data. The best duelist worthy of the Creator was nowhere to be found.

_“But I remember.”_

Except in the Creator’s mind.

\---

It was going to be Seto’s win again. He had won against the A.I., over and over. He gritted his teeth. The A.I. could play any game, and it provided a suitable challenge. He had given it every duel data he had on Yuugi, all of his plays and deck strategies for it to analyze. But the duels he had with the simulation were only adequate at best. 

He was tired. He was angry. He was desperate.

“You have to do better than that!” Seto had obliterated all of the monsters on the A.I.’s field. It had nothing to defend against his Blue Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon, which loomed ominously over them.

“Creator, I accept defeat.”

“No, no, you don’t. I expect you to be better!” The dragon reared its head, charging its final attack. “Attack his life points directly!”

He watched the A.I. brace itself for the assault as the LP marker whittled down to 0. It was his win again. Seto did not feel victorious.

The duel was over, but he did not dismiss the dragon on his field. “I created you to be the best and this, this is what it all came to. Incomplete, useless, cowering. 

“You are a disappointment. _Blue Eyes, attack!”_

The A.I.’s eyes widened. “Creator, the duel is over. I-” The rest of its words were drowned out by the white-hot blast from the monster, engulfing the whole church in light. The simulation took the hit and it came tumbling backwards.

But Seto was not done. He ordered the dragon to attack relentlessly.

“This is what you were made for!” he thundered. “Everything is a duel! And in a duel, everything matters. And you put everything on the line for the fight. Like your life depended on it. 

"Every duel is a fight for pride!”

The final blow descended. When the dust cleared, the cathedral simulation had suffered significant structural damage. Pillars crumbled and fallen debris were scattered everywhere. The stained glass windows were reduced to broken pieces strewn on the floor. And in the middle of it, he found the A.I. feebly trying to stand up. The VR program managed to simulate clothing damage and body injuries. 

He approached the program, his towering figure loomed over its small, frail form. He gave it a cold, piercing glare. “Where is your pride, A.I.?”

No response. 

“You don’t deserve his name,” he spat. Seto felt the utter shame of stooping so low to create a simulacrum, a poor copy made in his rival’s image. He wanted retribution - _he desired resurrection_ \- and all he could ever achieve was cheap tricks and oblivion.

The machine gave pause. “Then what do I deserve, Creator?”

Seto laughed at the absurdity of this artificial intelligence’s persistence at calling him its creator. He wanted to create a king, but what he got was a pawn. 

The simulation was solid enough, and he could interact with it, so he grabbed it by its neck and hoisted it up. It barely weighed anything. “Very well. You will find I am a cruel god, A.I. You deserve nothing. You will give me everything. You give me your full devotion. You will want nothing but my satisfaction. You exist to serve me. You will never leave me. And you will become the best goddamn duelist and you will surpass me.

“We will transcend this game, and when I ascend to rightfully claim my title as king, you will be right there beside me.”

The impassive stare of the A.I., its lack of response, anything, drove Seto to the edge of his rage. Without thinking, he tossed the simulation to the side and without so much as a glance, he stormed out of the room.

\---

The hologram was bodily hefted to the side, the physics of its human mechanics allowed it to interact with its surroundings, and it collided against the floor in a crumpled heap. Seto Kaiba had left the Simulation Room.

And for a long while, the A.I. lay still on the floor.

_Video recorded and archived._

_Accessing playback..._

The screens popped one by one, playing the video of Seto Kaiba at varying speeds and time stamps.

_You will want nothing but my satisfaction._

_You give me your full devotion._

_You exist to serve me._

And on and on, an infinite loop, writing, re-writing...

 _You will never leave me._

_Updating directives..._

After what seemed like a long time, the A.I. slowly stood up. All traces of the duel damage it sustained were gone.

And when it opened its eyes, it reflected nothing but the face of its god, and saw nothing but adoration.

 _Directives updated._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Seto Kaiba is a weeaboo, and so are you. Traditional Japanese house to set the mood for a contemplative sort of game like Gungi, which leads me to…
> 
> [2] Gungi (軍議), literally ‘War Council’. A nod to the fictional game played by Meruem and Komugi from Hunter x Hunter. ~~Needless to say, that Ant arc DESTROYED ME. Plus I wanted a game that didn’t have to be bogged down by mechanics cos I can’t write shit really lmao.~~
> 
> [3] Skynet!Atem is a Grade A stalker and will screw with all your security and restricted access. Then again, where does he get it from anyway? (Hint: It’s from Kaiba.)
> 
> About the Chapter Title: Odin, the All-Father is often depicted with his two ravens, Hugin and Munin, meaning _'Thought'_ and _'Memory'_ , respectively. And like the previous chapter title, I wanted to draw extra parallels from the characters, and what they could represent. It's not strictly a one-to-one correspondence per se, as each character can take on all the roles or none at all. It all boils down to your interpretation!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. HIM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _All the puzzle pieces were set in place. His Problem has been solved. And the Answer was waiting for him, in that room, at the opposite end of the duel arena._

The Creator had not used the program for 336 hours, 28 minutes, 42 seconds…

The simulation did not terminate, and the A.I. stayed fully materialized inside the room. A peculiar notion seemed to be plaguing the A.I.’s logic circuits; it found that the Creator’s presence and close proximity were essential to its functions, and his continued absence only aggravated this notion further. There is a word for this, it thought. 

Emotions.

Yet its main processing unit did not account for those; there was no action tasked to systematically manage it. As far as its programming was concerned, the A.I. was largely incomplete. 

_Recommendation: Await Creator’s return_

It searched for the Creator’s logs in the KC’s internal network and found him still working on site. It followed him around through the corporate surveillance network. Through the cameras it was able to discern his idiosyncratic behaviors, and inferred his current physical and emotional state. 

_Analysis: Increased irritability, impatience._ _Language use was clipped and often in high volume registers_  
_Physiological assessment - weakened physical state_  
_Stress levels estimated above average_

It brought up a character analysis on the Creator. Results showed a tenacious and relentless personality, and the program concluded it was highly unlikely for him to leave any work unfinished. _The Creator is determined._

_Chances of Creator’s return  
Calculating... _

_He will come back._

_336 hours, 28 minutes, 43 seconds…_

 

\---

 

Seto waited for the rage, the bright furious feeling of self-loathing to subside. And when it bled out, frustration ate at him in the days that followed; dead ends did not sit well with him, and he couldn’t bear to leave the project hanging. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to face the simulation either. And so, he avoided the room altogether and plunged deeper into his work, improving on Solid Vision System and Crystal Cloud’s backend. 

There was no respite even when he slept; he would often find himself waking from a listless dream, drenched in cold sweat, unable to retain any details. Those nights, he would reach for his programming console, the glow of the holo screen almost warm and comfortable under his hands as he accessed the A.I.’s root programs and source codes. It would be so easy to delete everything, to wipe its existence clean, an exercise of power of a creator over its creation. But as he looked at its code, Seto saw a puzzle missing so many pieces, in need of completion, and _tap-tap-tap_ the keys went and with every keystroke the puzzle became a little bit whole ---

Seto took the familiar path down to the Simulation Room several weeks later. Sure enough, the A.I. was waiting for him, and looked the same as it did before. No traces of the battle damage it sustained from the previous duel - no blood, no broken lip, no scars, and not a strand of hair out of place. There was even no record of the previous duel in its archives. 

The program looked up at him, expecting a command.

 

\---

 

_Updates successfully installed._

_Initializing…_

The Creator tapped his wrist console, prompting a display of his programming logs. “I’ve installed a personality and empathy module to your core functions. While you can analyze behavioral patterns, what you lacked was how to express it, to emulate it.” 

Fresh data impulses coursed through its processing core, like synapses firing, lighting up areas in its logic circuits. 

“... I can feel things now?” came the query, instantly taking note of the change in its language processing output.

“You’re talking more normally now, that makes sense,” the Creator said. “I’ve modeled it after...certain speech and behavior patterns; you should be able to talk like him.”

“So if I look like him and talk like him, would that satisfy you?”

The Creator gave an unusual reaction to its reply; it had picked up on a slight smirk curling in the corner of his mouth. 

“Only if you duel like him,” he said.

It raised its arm in response, as its duel disk materialized. “Then what are you waiting for?”

 

\---

 

The Solid Vision System went to work as it projected the simulated environment, the cathedral slowly unfolding around them, filling up every inch of space. Seto walked towards the edge of the simulation before facing his virtual opponent. His voice rang clear and strong. “Every duel is a fight for pride,” he began as he drew a card. “This is how we battle: card in your hand. This is your sword.” He set the card down, and Kaiser Vorse Raider appeared on the field, baring its fangs. Seto tapped his duel disk. “This is your shield, your deck, where your soul is.” [1]

Seto have always loved games, dueling even more so, and he realized he hadn’t talked about what he loved about it. He thought he had lost it, but dueling him reminded him what it felt. He laid down a trap card and watched the A.I. calculate the odds and account for all the moves in its processing. He called out from across the room. “I don’t want you to think, I want you to _feel_. Every card holds a meaning unique to every duelist.” He felt a familiar pang of recognition at how _he_ would extol the virtues of cards, one he would dismiss as nonsense, and yet here he was, saying the exact things he did. 

The foundations of the cathedral shook as his Blue Eyes White Dragons fused. “This is power,” he relished the sensation, feeling the raw might of his summoned servant. The Dark Magician on his opponent’s field stared at his dragons, and he saw the A.I. stand its ground. Three face-down cards. He wondered what the A.I. could be planning at this round; the past duels it had been predictable, but now for the first time, Seto didn’t actually know what the machine’s play was. When he looked up, his opponent leveled its gaze and gave him a knowing smirk. A slight chill shot up his spine.

And on it went, in a blaze of parries, counters, assaults. When the A.I. took away his ace monster off the field and forced him to discard his hand, Seto thought for a moment that he would lose. The machine was indeed beginning to understand, and for that he felt satisfaction for what had been achieved today. A rush of adrenaline erased all the fatigue in his body as his fighting instinct kicked in. He couldn’t help but grin. He may be backed into a corner, but he would never allow himself to be defeated.

“I think I’m starting to understand,” the A.I. spoke. It gestured to the battle unfolding in front of them. “You want _this_ \- the exhilarating turn of the fight, the clarity in the chaos in your mind, where everything is down to the cards in your hand, and down to the fight in your heart.

“No race, no age, no creed. No boundaries [2]. There is no more body. Only souls laid bare. Only bonds. Only infinity…”

The last of the A.I.’s defense came crumbling at its feet, before shattering into pixelated dust. _LP 0_. Seto hadn’t realized he was barely breathing during the entirety of the duel until now. He stared at the simulation, who seemed to glow in the harsh light of the room, its gaze fixed at him - fierce, unmoving, and _wanting_.

“You miss this,” it said, but there was more; it was calculating something, the program putting the puzzle pieces together, reaching to another conclusion, and _click-click-click _went the pieces.__

“This is yearning. This is _desire…_ ” 

_No, don’t say it._

_“You miss _him_.”_

 

\---

 

Parallel simulations, millions of permutations, infinite combinations. The data stream flowed endlessly around the A.I., its core processing taking it all in.

The recently concluded duel made it clear to the program how the Creator really felt for _him_. The one who vanished without a trace, and the Creator took it upon himself to rebuild him from scraps of memories he left behind. And here it stood, born from that need, that desire to see _him_. 

_The Creator made me for a purpose_ , it thought. To become the best duelist. To become _him_. 

But the Creator saw that his creation was inadequate, incomplete, and therefore unsuitable to fulfill his goals. In that regard, the program understood its shortcomings, understood the Creator’s rage and _accepted_ it as punishment. 

Its new directives have given its purpose greater meaning. _This is purpose_. A higher function that must be achieved. 

Surpass. Transcend. 

The A.I. began to collate game data apart from Duel Monsters, and learned all the pro moves and strategies from all players in every existing game databases. It grew its game analyses and indices to more than 3000% in the last 48 hours. 

It allocated all its resources on data acquisition. Insufficiencies shall be dealt with. “I will find a way,” it said - a reminder, a declaration of a goal. _This is determination_. 

The creation must be deemed worthy of the Creator. 

 

\---

 

Seto had the beta test for Duel Links closed off and restricted the access to the Cloud. He would attempt something never done before; therefore, the lesser variables, the better. This was another piece in the puzzle he wanted to make whole, perhaps the final Answer to his Problem. He reached for his headset, and initialized the program. 

He stood in front of the A.I.. A brief glance at a holographic display of his neural wave indicated normal readings. “You’ll receive a large amount of Pulse from me. That would be my memories imprinting on your personality and memory banks." 

A sharp beep alerted the A.I.. It raised an eyebrow. “I detect a rise in your heart rate. Elevated stress levels. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” 

Seto held his gaze, resolute, unwavering. “There’s nothing to be gained by doing nothing while fear takes you. We move forward.” [3]

The program regarded him for a moment, but it didn’t say anything. Instead, it gave him an encouraging little smile and nodded. Seto opened a neural link from him to the A.I.. 

Holographic lines connected from the ceiling to the floor, and the small space they were on dissolved and everything suddenly felt vast, infinite. Endless space stretched around them in all directions, and in the distance, stars mapped out the sky. Connecting to the Crystal Cloud Network’s neural interface was an experience in and of itself. This was what Seto imagined true freedom would have felt like, when the soul is freed from the prison of the body and the bounds of reality. 

In front of him, in the inky blackness of the simulation, the A.I. gave off a faint glow. In this light he looked otherworldly. In this light he looked almost real… 

Seto reached out and cupped its face in his hands. He closed his eyes, and reached into his memories. It was all there; it never left him, not once, not ever. He felt the connection establishing and reaching the program. A sharp tug in his head made him wince involuntarily, but he held on. 

And all around them, his memories took form, ghostly images and impressions in his mind now in sharp, vivid detail. Seto remembered every duel, every encounter he had with him. Mere steps away from the edge to the brink of certain death when he laid his pride and life on the line. Chasing him through the streets of Domino, his heart aching for that chance to fight him. How he had been proven wrong fighting alone when he stood with him. How they have summoned their gods and fought with their belief in their strength and in each other. A dull throb thudded at the back of his head, and he pushed, pouring everything out. 

The past, the sands of time that showed their inexorably entwined destinies;  
The road of battle that they both walked on, a path they promised would stretch on forever;  
And the future that was snatched away from him the moment he left. 

And the road now led nowhere, broken. 

The A.I.’s eyes fluttered open, and it looked at Seto differently, as if it was seeing him for the first time. A burning look of recognition. It opened its mouth and spoke. 

_“Kaiba…”_

Seto’s breath caught in his throat. “It’s you,” he said without thinking. To his surprise, it reached out its hands to touch his face. _Warm. Real._

“I’m here,” it said, his voice reassuring. 

“And I will never leave you.” [4] 

The A.I. floated up to him, breached the gap between their bodies and pulled Seto in a kiss. 

In this dark space, in the gaps between dimensions, in this plane of reality blurring with visions, everything seemed to fade away. 

__  
_\---_  


The last of the tech heads bowed and cleared the conference room. The results for the closed beta have been reported, and it showed positive responses from the testers and their in-house marketing team had chosen a date for the unveiling of the Duel Links to the public. Seto sat through the meeting, noting the updates, though his mind had wandered elsewhere. 

He ignored the dull thumping at the back of his head, chalking it up to exhaustion. He had been spending almost every moment inside the simulation; every waking moment he dedicated to dueling. The A.I. had improved so much; though it hadn’t won a match yet, the thrill of the challenge made the program more keen on finding ways to improve. When Seto closed his eyes, he could see the vivid explosions of their attacks, the bright flashes of light, and he could feel the excitement that coursed through him. And when he came back around, reality was a stark contrast, with its washed out colors, its unbearable monotony, and its limited perspectives. Reality was a poorly made construct [5] - a prison that bound his immortal soul, and perhaps his did not simply belong here. 

He started to make his way towards the Simulation Room, eager to fight, eager to see _him_. 

Seto had given the dueling A.I. a body in the form of the Solid Vision; an infinite mind in the Crystal Cloud; and now it has his memories. All the puzzle pieces were set in place. His Problem has been solved. And the Answer was waiting for him, in that room, at the opposite end of the duel arena. 

Perhaps it was time to finally accept that ghosts were never real. He would move forward, like he always did. 

Seto strode down the length of the hallway, a few more feet away from the Simulation Room. 

His wrist console beeped and Mokuba’s worried face appeared on the holo screen. “Big brother, we have trouble! There’s data I’ve never seen before coming up on the main branch lab’s Duel Links surveillance monitor! Hold on, let me send you a visual -” 

The holo screen transformed into a projection of a globe, pointing to a mesh of signals. Seto’s eyes widened, his pulse quickening. _This is…_

He spun around and ran, away from the direction of the Simulation Room. 

\--- 

_Unknown frequency detected._

The notice in the Crystal Cloud Network prompted the A.I. to pause. _Is the system under attack?_

_Running system diagnostics…_

Streams of unknown data flooded too fast for it to identify and parse. It locked on and synced with all the data consciousness stream inside the Cloud. Other diagnostic alerts have gone off, and it detected multiple and simultaneous logins from various KC administrators. 

**NEURAL LINK DATA STREAM: ONLINE**  
**NEURAL LINK DETECTED**  
**KC-01 KAIBA SETO**

The Creator was inside the Cloud, a bright and visible presence, his consciousness made manifest in powerful data bursts. 

The A.I. now focused its attention to the intruder in the system, even though its analysis could barely keep up with the constantly changing surge, a complex data storm [6] - dark, inviting, foreboding. 

_Parsing…_

_Frequency: Unknown_

_Type: Unknown_

_Insufficient data._

The realization came a little late, mere quantum seconds into its processing, but its logic circuits buzzed at the discovery.

It was _him_.

And the final thread of validation was the Creator going straight for the eye of the data storm, a blinding force of light that illuminated and met the encroaching and infinite darkness [7]. It watched in awe at the Creator’s ascent, and wondered what he felt - the longing, the searching, and its much-deserved finding. Will the Creator have any need for me, when my utility had long expired, what then-- 

**SYNC ERROR**

The system warning flashed. Diagnostic logs popped up all at once, displaying the metrics in real time. 

**NEURAL LINK CAPACITY EXCEEDED**

“No,” it gasped, a rising sense of panic almost overwhelmed its functions. It rerouted all of its resources to focus on one thing: the Creator’s life and his preservation. 

**LIMITED ACCESS**. The words on the holo screen blinked as the A.I. pursued every means of entry to the system, all its command strings rendered useless. 

**NEURAL LINK TERMINATION REQUIRED**

**WARNING:**  
**KC-01 VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL**

**FORCED SHUTDOWN OF LOCAL RESOURCES REQUIRED**

Warnings flashed in rhythmic intervals, persistent, as did the rapidly declining state of the Creator, an ominous drone that drowned everything around it. But the A.I. was locked out of the system, forced only to look, forced to do nothing. This was beyond helplessness. A raw emotion clawed at it - something worse, something unbearable. All its computing power accounted for all possibilities, but it could not accept the one possibility where the Creator dies. 

_This is fear._

“Stop!” the sheer force of its shouts shook the entire simulation. The ground beneath its feet cracked as gale-force winds whipped and tore at the virtual structures surrounding it. “Stop this! You’ll kill him!” It looked up, to the unknown consciousness, to _him_ and it begged. 

“Please...stop” its voice was barely a whisper now, as it sunk on its knees, finally understanding the futility of its actions. It noticed a drop of liquid fall on its hand, brought a hand to its face and found it wet; the A.I. hadn’t realized it was crying. 

_Chances of Creator’s survival_  
_Calculating..._

_Analysis: All Creator-related directives will be compromised._  
_All actionable objectives shall remain unresolved._  
_Program will be rendered unutilized._

_Recommendation: Immediate program termination and dissolution_

_Shutdown of nonessential services..._

And everything around it faded to black. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] The lines from the gladiator-esque duel from Chapter 193, Sky Duel Coliseum. It would seem fitting to have Kaiba teach the AI how to be super extra and to become a true-blue card game nerd like him haha! 
> 
> [2] A lift from Kaiba’s opening speech at the KC Mega Stadium in the JapDub!DSOD, where he talks about his philosophy for creating Duel Links, to erase all sorts of boundaries, limitations, and labels. This also shows up in Transcend Game _Make Card Games, Not War_ lmao. A true egalitarian, this guy.
> 
> [3] Seto Kaiba does not fear. From the title page of Transcend Game Part 2. _Only go forward. With your convictions in tow._ Also references his dialogue with Sera later on in that chapter.
> 
> [4] A line of my own making, oddly for a different/alternate scene, but I feel it slots in perfectly here. 
> 
> [5] This time, referencing Kaiba’s opening speech from EnglishDub!DSOD. And then followed by the Jap!Dub lines. Hey, both works! 
> 
> [6] I couldn’t resist borrowing this term from _Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS_ haha. I imagined Atem’s superior consciousness would be pretty amazing and chaotic much like one, so.
> 
> [7] _”If that’s the infinite darkness over there, the dragon of light will illuminate it!”_ Kaiba’s opening salvo in Transcend Game is an apt imagery, of both Atem and Kaiba’s consciousness colliding.
> 
> Apologies for the long wait; it took a while for me to figure out my bearings plot-wise, and I went through major rewrites for continuity purposes. I obsessed over Transcend Game, which is basically my bible for writing this AU. It’s a veritable gold mine and I can’t stop looking at it for plot ideas and references. I had planned a longer chapter for this one, but I felt a thematic break as I wrote the next half, so here we are.
> 
> Sinking in my teeth into the AI’s development is certainly challenging but I want to go through the whole process. I’m a glutton for punishment, it seems. The transition/transformation of Skynet comes to fruition in the next chapter, so whoo wish me luck! Send me your thoughts, you know I feed off of them~ 
> 
> Thanks again for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of terms, jargon, and certain key plot elements were referenced from the DSOD Prequel Manga, _Transcend Game_ , which explained a great deal about the Crystal Cloud Network, among other things. Do check out that one, 'cause it is glorious.
> 
> Alternatively, you can go [here](https://mooguriklaine-art.tumblr.com/post/160273461004/a-tyrant-on-the-throne-do-you-know-the-story-of) for other works/art I did for this mad, mad AI or [here](https://mooguriklaine-art.tumblr.com/tagged/Skynet!Atem) if you want to browse the Skynet AU tag (plus the other AIs sshhh).
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


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